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Phishing

//ˈfɪʃɪŋ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The malicious act of keeping a false website or sending a false e-mail with the intent of masquerading as a trustworthy entity in order to acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details. uncountable

    "Holonym: social engineering"

  2. 2
    The act of circumventing security with an alias. uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of phish form-of, gerund, participle, present

Etymology

Etymology 1

Respelling of fishing (“trying to find”). In Usenet newsgroups, cracker and pirate groups used variant spellings of phish and warez (i.e. wares) to evade scans and filters by mainstream servers policing the ARPAnet/Internet. Compare other respelling slang like phat and phreak.

Etymology 2

Respelling of fishing (“trying to find”). In Usenet newsgroups, cracker and pirate groups used variant spellings of phish and warez (i.e. wares) to evade scans and filters by mainstream servers policing the ARPAnet/Internet. Compare other respelling slang like phat and phreak.

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